Herbert B. Peterson, MD, FACOG
Dr. Herbert Peterson
Director
Herbert B. Peterson, the William R. Kenan, Jr. Distinguished Professor, is the past chair of the Department of Maternal and Child Health at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health and is currently a professor in that department as well as the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology in the School of Medicine. Dr. Peterson’s research is at the interface of medicine and public health and increasingly focuses on the development and application of implementation science in global health, particularly its applied applications.
Joumana Haidar, DBA
Joumana Haidar
Deputy Director
Joumana Haidar is an adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Maternal and Child Health at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, who received her DBA from the University of North Carolina – Charlotte. Her research focus is on the development and application of innovative theories and methodologies to support implementation, using insights from business research and other disciplines.
Myka Elliott
Myka Elliott
Executive Assistant
Myka Elliott received her BA in Exercise and Sport Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She serves as the main point of contact for the Collaborating Center and, in that capacity, oversees all incoming and outgoing communications. In addition, she designs and prepares explanatory materials for key stakeholders, manages the Collaborating Center’s website, and provides organizational and administrative support to the Director and Deputy Director.
A. Blanton Godfrey, PhD
Dr. A. Blanton Godfrey
Lead, Data Visualization and Utilization
A. Blanton Godfrey, the Joseph D. Moore Distinguished University Professor of Textile & Apparel Technology & Management at North Carolina State University, is former Dean of the Wilson College of Textiles– the leading institution of its type in the world. He is a globally recognized pioneer in the field of health care quality improvement. Previously, he served as the Chairman and CEO of the Juran Institute – a global leader in quality management – and as Head of the Quality Theory and Technology Department of AT&T Bell Laboratories.
Dean Fixsen, PhD
Dr. Dean Fixsen
Senior Technical Advisor
Dean Fixsen, former Research Professor in the Department of Maternal and Child Health, has spent his career developing and implementing evidence-based programs to improve the lives of children, families, adults, and society. He is a globally-recognized pioneer of the field of implementation science, founder of the National Implementation Research Network, founder of the Active Implementation Research Network, and the founding past president of both the Global Implementation Initiative and the Global Implementation Society.
Sheila Leatherman, HON FRCP, CBE
Sheila Leatherman
Senior Advisor
Sheila Leatherman is a professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health. She is globally recognized for quality of care research and methodologies for evaluating health system performance. She assists countries in developing national quality policies and is the Lead Advisor for WHO’s project on National Quality Policy and Strategy. Her current research focuses on improving safety and quality in extreme adversity.
Joan Healy, MPH
Joan Healy
Program Manager
Joan Healy received her MPH from the Gillings School and has extensive background in U.S. and global health systems strengthening and capacity building, including development, testing, implementation and scale-up of interventions to increase access to and quality of health services in Latin America, Africa and Asia. She has most recently managed the Center’s contributions toward the National Family Planning Training Center’s technical assistance and leadership capacity building for Title X grantee organizations and their networks.
Monisa Aijaz
Monisa Aijaz, MBBS, MPH
Research Assistant
Monisa Aijaz received her MBBS from the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences in Karnataka, India and her MPH from the Gillings School. She has specialty training in obstetrics and gynecology and is currently pursuing a PhD in the Department of Health Policy and Management. Since completing her MPH, she has supported the Center’s work on adaptive leadership for service system strengthening and implementation capacity building for low- and middle-income countries.
Allysha Choudhury
Allysha Choudhury, ScM
Research Assistant
Allysha Choudhury received her ScM in Epidemiology from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and is a first-year doctoral student in the Department of Maternal and Child Health at the Gillings School. She previously worked as a statistics officer at the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) where she specialized in analysis and visualization of maternal, newborn and child health data and is currently supporting ongoing work on pediatric quality of care with WHO and UNICEF.
Hiba Fatima
Hiba Fatima, MSc
Research Assistant
Hiba Fatima received her MSc from Duke University in global health and is a first- year doctoral student in the Department of Maternal and Child Health at the Gillings School. She previously served as the evaluation coordinator for the National MCH Workforce Development Center, where she used her qualitative analysis skills for impact evaluation. In her current role, she contributes to the Collaborating Center’s research efforts to improve support for implementation research and implementation practice.
Christopher Westgard
Christopher Westgard, MPP
Research Assistant
Christopher Westgard received his Master of Public Policy from the University of Washington and is a second-year doctoral student in the Department of Maternal and Child Health. He previously received a Fogarty Global Health Research Fellowship and currently is the Principal Investigator of a Grand Challenges Canada – funded project to investigate an mHealth tool for improving community health agent performance. He is contributing to the Collaborating Center’s research efforts to improve support for implementation research and practice.
Aparna Kachoria, MPH
Aparna Kachoria
Research Assistant
Aparna Kachoria is a doctoral student in the Department of Maternal and Child Health at the UNC Gillings School of Public Health. She received her MPH in global health epidemiology from University of Michigan in 2016 and has experience working in monitoring and evaluation and translational research in both health policy and mental health settings. She provides research support for hypertension in pregnancy and postpartum through the Collaborating Center.
